Late for work
by DigiDork
Summary: When Apollo is late for work Trucy gets worried. It turns out Apollo has gone missing.
1. Intro: Always on time

Apollo was late for work.

He was never late for work. He was always at the "Wright Talent Agency" on time each morning. Even when he worked late he would sleep in the spare bedroom at the agency so he wouldn't be late for work. Trucy had once asked him why he was so worried about being late for work. Apollo ended up going off into a lecture about punctuality being an important trait for a lawyer. Trucy still didn't understand why it mattered so much. She racked it up to being a weird 'Polly thing', like Apollo's fascination with putting his hair in two pointy horns, or his need to practice his "Chords of Steel". That's why this raining Saturday morning Trucy grew very concerned. Apollo was an hour late.

"Daddy, Polly's late!" Trucy called to her adopted father; who was in the kitchen making instant waffles.

"Uh? I'm sure it nothing Sweetie. When I was an attorney I was often late to work. "

"But Daddy, Polly's never late. Never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever -"

"I get the idea Trucy, if you're so worried why don't you call him?" Phoenix said with a lazy smile as he brought two plates of waffles into the main room.

"Great idea Daddy!" Trucy grinned widely at her father before bouncing off to find the telephone.

"Wait! Trucy! The waffles… oh well" the piano player let out a sigh as he watch Trucy disappear to another room.

It was a few minutes after Phoenix had sat down on the couch and started eating that he heard his daughter call again. "Daddy! Where is the phone?"

"I think you last used it in the kitchen."

"Okay, I'll check there… It's not in the kitchen Daddy, I looked everywhere!"

"How about the plate cupboard?"

"Why? Would it be there?"

"Dunno, just check."

"Wow Daddy! You were right; I think some of my magic has rubbed off on you."

Phoenix chuckled at little. Before handing Trucy a crumpled piece of paper from inside his hood pocket as she walked past the couch. "Apollo's apartment number should be the fifth on the list"

"Okay Dokay!" Trucy trailed her finger down the list past her cell phone number, a phone number for a M. Egthworth, a L. Butz, a M Fey, and one crossed out in crude pencil marks that looked like it spelt K. Gavin. Folding the piece of paper over so that Apollo's number was at the top Trucy dialed the numbers into the cordless phone.

"// B-Bring// B-Bring//// B-Bring// B-Bring//// B-Bring// B-Bring// BEEP// You reached Apollo Justice and I AM FINE! However I'm not home at the moment, please leave a message after the beep. Thanks … //BEEP//"

Trucy looked up at her father and mouthed "He's not home" before replying to the answering machine.

Phoenix tried to assure Trucy that Apollo was probably on his way to the office at that very moment. Still she couldn't shake the uneasy feeling lingering in the pit of her stomach. The day passed and Apollo never showed up for work. Fact was he didn't show up for work for the next whole month. Polly was missing.


	2. Chapter 1: Bad Luck

The first thing Phoenix planned to do the day after Apollo didn't show up to work was to pay a visit to Apollo's apartment. He had planned to go investigate alone before Trucy woke up but much to his dismay she had gotten up an hour before him and insisted on tagging along. Phoenix couldn't find it in his heart to deny Trucy's request partly because Apollo was her half brother (even if she still didn't know) and partly because it was really difficult to say no to his daughter period.

Lucky for the Wrights the walk from the office to Apollo's place wasn't too far. It was a good thing too since the rain from the day before hadn't let up.

"Watch where you step Trucy, there are some icy bits on the side walk." Phoenix informed his daughter after nearly slipping on a patch of black ice.

"Okay Daddy, but really you should be the one watching where you walk. I'm a magician gracefulness runs in my blood, you on the other hand are as coordinated as a classroom full of preschoolers."

"Ah ha ha, you know me too well" Phoenix laughed a little as they reached the apartment building.

"Say, Daddy how are we going to get into Polly's apartment if he's not home?"

"Hopefully we won't have to. Hopefully he'll be home." Nick said with a smile towards the petit magician beside him. He had to stay optimistic for her sake.

"Daddy, Polly hasn't answered any of our calls. I don't think he'll be home now." She said bluntly and half frowning which surprised Mr. Wright. Trucy was usually the most positive person he knew, it was unusual for her to be this realistic about a situation. "Oh I know! Polly keeps an extra key tapped to the bottom of his door mat in case he loses his key. We can use that." Trucy stated returning to her normal cheerful attitude and running ahead down the hallway.

"Uh huh" Phoenix nodded as he fallowed behind her still a little in shock from Trucy's brief moment of pessimism. When he caught up to Trucy she had already fished out the key from beneath Apollo's door mat and was unlocking the door. Nothing in the apartment seemed strange at all. There were a few books scattered across the main table as well as a plate with the remains of some peanut butter toast. Nothing had been packed up and Apollo's passport was still on the top of his dresser. Everything was in place for an apartment that was being used by a young male adult except for the occupant himself. It was like Apollo had just vanished from the face of the earth.

When they returned to the apartment Phoenix phoned the police department to report the disappearance. Needless to say Ema who answered the phone was shaken. After that Phoenix spent the rest of the day phoning people asking if they had seen Apollo and Trucy made a whole stack of missing poster. It was in the evening when Phoenix left the apartment to go get some food so Trucy and he wouldn't starve. When Phoenix came home from getting dinner from Eldoon's noodle stand he found his daughters sitting very solemn by the window.

"Daddy am I bad luck?" she asked him as Phoenix neared her with two bowls of noodles and a pair of chop sticks for each of them.

"What? Of course not! How did you get that silly idea in your head?"

"Well… It's just that it seems like the people I get close to disappear."

"Huh?" Phoenix stared blankly into the young magician's eyes.

"First Mommy, then Daddy went missing too a-and n-now P-Polly" she managed to blurt out before covering her face with a corner of her cape to dry the newly formed tears rolling down her cheek.

"Trucy."

"I-I didn't m-mean for any them to go."

"Trucy."

"M-maybe I s-should just live inside m-my room for t-the rest of my life."

"TRUCY! Listen to me. You're not bad luck; actually you're the farthest thing away from it. You're a ray of sunshine and anyone who has met you will agree that they feel happy when they see you smile." Phoenix said sternly as he placed the bowls on the coffee table before pulling Trucy into a hug.

"Really!"

"Without a doubt, plus I haven't disappeared, have I?" Phoenix laughed a bit.

"Nope" Trucy wiped away the remains of the tears and smiled again at her adopted father.

"Plus Apollo's not going to be missing for long, we'll find him. Nobody skips work on Trucy Wright's watch and gets away with it?" He joked as he handed Trucy her bowl of noodles.

"Nope! Nobody!" She giggled.

The brief moment of contentment in the circumstances lasted until the next day when no clues on Apollo's whereabouts turned up. With each passing day the hope of finding the young defense attorney twiddled away. Without realizing it both of the Wrights had grown accustomed to having the rookie defense attorney around. There was a void left from not hearing his pointless question in the background of their everyday life. He had only come into their lives for a year but if wasn't easy to come to terms with his disappearance. Part of both of them wouldn't be able to come to terms it at all.


	3. Chapter 2: Missing Poster

{{Hello Digidork here.

Thank you RingRing, Nikki Edogawa, and Dragonridingattorney43 for the comments. I love to get reviews, especially if you have any suggestions on how I can improve my writing and such.

So now we actually get into the really story. The last chapter was more like another intro but I still needed to put that information out there so that the story makes more sense later on. Anyway this chapter takes place a month after Apollo disappears. Enjoy.}}

Phoenix locked his old bicycle into a rusty bike rack as he look around his surroundings trying to find the nearest telephone pole. Trucy had insisted that they put up posters in the next town over since no leads had come up about the missing Apollo for a whole month. Trucy wanted to come along with her father to pin up poster but it was the middle of the week and she had school. Trucy had missed a whole bunch of days of school right after Apollo disappeared because she protested that she "couldn't concentrate on school work when poor Polly was out in the big dark scary world all by himself." Phoenix had to play the responsible parent card so Trucy's grades didn't suffer and forced her to go to school.

Placing a piece of paper from his Steel Samurai bag up against a wooden telephones pole he couldn't help but glance at the picture on the missing poster. Trucy had attempted to draw Apollo herself but the drawing ended looking like a ladybug rather than a human being. Instead they requested Vera to commission a picture of the young man. As always Vera's picture had been incredibly accurate. Almost too accurate, every time Trucy or Phoenix had to put up a missing poster they came face to face with Apollo. It was a painful reminder of the void left by his departure. Had it only been a month? It seemed like it had been much longer than that.

Phoenix stopped by a small diner half way through his planned rout for stapling posters. It was lunch and Nick had never really been one to deny his stomach when it growled. He slouched into one of the chair by the window as he waited for the waitress to come take his order. The shop seemed low on staff. There was one cashier, one bus boy and one waitress; who was rushing around from table to table trying her very best to please the customers. Her long dry and frizzy orange hair kept falling out of a very loose bun as she raced from one order to the next. Phoenix noticed her nearly fall flat on her face twice from tripping over a table or chair leg. The busboy was facing away from Phoenix and was clearing some dishes off an empty table at the back. Phoenix really didn't pay a lot attention to him other than noticing he was wearing a beat up Nickel Samurai cape. The Cashier was reading a newspaper waiting for some young couple to fish out exact change from a tiny change purse. He had straight blond hair and thick circular glasses that would constantly slide down his nose. The man looked around his late mid 30's and appeared like he owned the joint by glances and orders he shot at the other employees.

It took a while before the unorthodox waitress got to Phoenix's table. It must have been a fairly popular diner since nearly every table was filled. This made the ex-attorney even more curious on why the employer didn't hire more workers.

"What'll it be?" The waitress asked panting from running across the diner to where Mr. Wright was sitting. She flipped to a new page in her notepad at looked back up at him impatiently waiting for an answer.

"The Turkey sub and a glass of grape juice." Phoenix said lazly as he fiddled with the edge of his toque. A few minutes earlier he had been debating whether to get a cup of coffee or grape juice. He could really use the caffeine from the coffee to give him energy to put up more of the poster but then again it would be a sin not to get grape juice.

"Kay, it'll be a few minutes" the waitress mumbled as she scratched a few notes on a piece of paper and rushed away.

Phoenix's food didn't come till he had almost given up on waiting and was about to leave.

"Wait one moment sir, I got your food right here." the lady called out running from the counter where the cook; who was a balding middle aged man wearing a hair net had given her a tray. As she came closer to the table her foot got caught on the leg of a table causing her to tumble into the ground and the tray of food that she was caring to go flying through the air and crash into the ground. The Turkey sub ended up plastered on Phoenix's face much to his dismay. The grape juice had hit the ground with a loud shattering noise. The glass lay in twenty or so odd pieces end the liquid was in a pool around the glass shards. The noise had caused the cashier to look up and scowl.

"OLIVER!" the blond yelled over at the busboy.

"What?" the caped boy replied looking up from his work at the older male. Something bothered Phoenix when the boy spoke but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Frizzy broke another glass by table five. Go and help her clean it up before someone steps in it."

"OKAY! I'M RIGHT ON IT!" The boy shouted back surprisingly loud as he put down the cloth he had been using and walked over to were the waitress was cleaning the mess. It was that very bellow that cause Nick's head the bolt towards the direction of the busboy. He knew that voice, he knew that style of yelling, but it could be who he thought it was... could it?

As the busboy neared the table Phoenix noticed more physical detail that reassured him of his assumption. First off the busboy wasn't a boy at all but a young adult. He had messy chocolate brown hair that was squished under a baseball cap. Hanging in front of his face there was two long clumps of hair that fell between his deep auburn eyes. The man was wearing a faded red sweatshirt and baggy jeans under a pale yellow apron. The apron had the diner's logo on the front. If the busboy removed his hat and gelled up his hair he would be a spitting image of the picture on the missing poster.

"Apollo?"

{{Cliffhanger! Is Oliver really Apollo? If so why is he working in a diner? Wait and read the next chapter to find out. Trucy will be back in the next chapter. Remember to comment!}}


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